If you've never read it, Phillipians 4:6 says "Do not worry about anything, instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done." (NLT) I know what you're thinking, it can't be that easy. It's not, praying about everything and worrying about nothing? For the control freak in me, it is damn near impossible! But this weekend taught me a lesson: God cares about everything, even coolers.
This weekend was our Community on a Mission Day at church. Instead of doing for us, we did for others. Saturday 200+ peeps went out into the Quad Cities to practice God's love in practical ways. Some of those was included, passing out free pizza and drinks, giving away reusable bags, giving away air gliders at the Air Show, picking up trash along Kimberly Road, giving away free lunch, $1 car wash (we paid you $1 for letting us wash your car), picking up dog poo and giving away doggie treats at the dog park, etc... You get the idea, we were out to serve our community and show the community that God loves.
Well I was in charge of our drinks team, which meant making sure we had enough drinks to pass out, ice to keep them cold and coolers to hold it all. By Friday night I had plenty of drinks and ice and people, but I only had 3 coolers for sure. I was panicking because I had 5 teams planned for 5 different locations throughout the QC, but no way to pull it off if I didn't get at least 2 more coolers.
I remembered a the verse I had gotten in my email that morning, Phillipians 4:6. I decided to do exactly what it said pray about everything. So I while I was getting ready for bed I said, "God, tomorrow is your day. Its all for your glory and your honor. You know that I need at least 2 more coolers to have 5 teams go out and spread your love. I'm not going to worry about it anymore, and I'm giving the cooler situation to you. If we will need the extra coolers I trust you to provide them." And that was it, went to bed and had an ok night's sleep.
Saturday morning as I was gathering up my stuff and heading out the door, a moment of panic struck me about the coolers again. I stopped what I was doing and I told God to take care of it, it wasn't my problem. He knew how many coolers we needed and I knew he would provide them.
I arrived at church and began loading up the 3 coolers that I had available for the drinks team. People from my team began to arrive. "Rebecca, do you still need coolers?" Why yes I did. And you know what? They showed up! God provided more coolers than I needed, 7 coolers were available for the drinks team to use. 7! Can you believe he more than doubled what I originally had???? GOD IS SO GOOD!
I know coolers might be a silly thing to pray about and be excited about but think about this, if God is willing to double the amount of coolers I was praying for why wouldn't he take care of other things too? I believe that He will. I believe He will provide exactly what we need, when we need it, not when WE think we need it, which is an important concept to grasp.
Our timing is not always God's timing. In fact, remember I quit my job last month without having another one? Well, it turns out God does know what He's doing ;) Not only do I get to spend the summer with Nate and Dillon and doing fun stuff and hearing all sorts of funny things come out of their mouths, I also got out before I was forced out of my job.
There had been all sorts of rumors about going to a commission pay scale and pay cuts and what have you. The rumor while I was there was a 10% pay cut for salaried managers (which I was) and 2% commission on all personal sales. I ran the numbers and while I didn't like having money taken away from me and the opportunity to earn it back, I did see potential for some extra money every now and then. If I worked my behind off and sold sold sold, I could potentially bring home $50 extra a week, not exactly a huge incentive but whatever. Well beginning July 1 employees will be taking a 25% pay cut and getting a 3% commission. I ran those numbers too, and THANK YOU GOD for getting me out of there! I would have lost $200 a week on a good week! Part timers are making below minimum wage before commission. I can't think of a crummier thing to do to your employees. But they insist it's going to be great for employees. So glad I'm no longer an employee there.
So yes I believe God takes care of all the details, even if we can't see it when it happens. And I do believe that if you pray about everything and worry about nothing, life will be a little easier. Does this mean I'm never going to worry about anything again? Man I so wish I could say yes to that statement, but I know I will still have worries, but I'm going to do my best to pray about them immediately from now on instead of letting the worry get the best of me. Try it for 2 days, I bet you'll feel better about what's going on in your life and you'll want to continue praying after 2 days.
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